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Within 5 years, GM will ramp up EV production to 500,000 cars a year

Source: Ben Klayman, Reuters • Posted: Friday, November 16, 2012

By 2017, General Motors Co. plans to build as many as 500,000 electric vehicles a year, according to a company executive.

GM global product development chief Mary Barra told reporters the company has prioritized producing cars with some form of electrical power. The number it’s shooting for would be equivalent to more than 5 percent of GM’s total global sales last year of about 9 million.

Included in the target number would be plug-in hybrids; electric vehicles like the Chevy Spark EV, slated to hit dealerships in the summer; and vehicles with the eAssist system, which boosts fuel efficiency in gasoline-powered cars.

This year, the company has sold 50,000 vehicles in the United States that include an electrification component. Half of those, she said, were vehicles that used the eAssist system.

The Obama administration has pushed for the development of electric vehicles, and it hopes to have 1 million battery-powered vehicles on the road by 2015 (Ben Klayman, Reuters, Nov. 14)